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I agree with the previous posters on this particular "research". However, more generally, one should caution not to dismiss all unorthodox ideas immediately just because they are off the mainstream thinking. A quick and quite reliable indicator for me is the intensity and tone in which something is advertised. This is somehow common all across the field and including Kastle, BachScholar and the likes. Oddly this also happens even with people like Stephen Wolfram who have achieved something notable before (Mathematica) but then went nuts ("A new kind of science").In contrast, people with really good ideas or achievements are often much more relaxed and do not promote them so aggressively. Mahler once was asked by a friend to do more for promoting his symphonies (which were much misunderstood in their mix of "high" and "low" art elements). His reply apparently was that he is quite confident that they will become better appreciated and understood over time, and "I don't need to live to see them becoming immortal".

I'm dubious of anyone who says that their scientific theory came from divine intervention. BachScholar doesn't really explain a lot in his videos (and you have to pay for his essays, ahem). He also trails the comment strings on his vids in a very Richard Kastle/mikecaffey way.

Notice he uses a stiff arm/wrist for accents when he should be fingers only. Whether modern or 18th century technique, the wrists should be light. Besides, reducing such a great work to its least important aspect is a nonsense, like discussing what hair gel Napoleon used.

I just watched a couple of his videos. Unless I'm missing something, he seems to be saying "if you play Bach's pieces at such a speed that they all take exactly one minute, then they're all the same length. Which proves that the correct tempo is that which makes them a minute long." (Or multiples therof, etc. Well I know I'm simplifying things but then so is he!)

I actually enjoyed his Goldbergs more than I expected to - although that's maybe more down to how Bach wrote 'em then how he played 'em. For instance, number 30 sounded a bit like a march - he could be more delicate with phrasing. And I can't help thinking that's rather sad, because his slightly mechanical approach probably stems from his fixation with tempo as the starting point for interpretation, rather than melody, harmonic progression etc. And his technique seems like it would be sufficient to lift him above that if it weren't hampered by his odd ideas.

And yes, the music that followed the new age, er, "moment" was Bach, from the Musical Offering, no?

I know this is super old, but after watching some of his videos, Im confused on how he plays with such stiff wrists? I notice the pieces that require touch and character, like some of the chopin pieces, sound very empty and robotic. He has several degrees in music performance and Im just confused on how things are taught? I started piano lessons a year ago and my instructor wont let me play a note without rotating my wrists and having lots of wrist and hand flexibility. Is this not universal-ish?

I know this is super old, but after watching some of his videos, Im confused on how he played with such stiff wrists? I notice his pieces that require touch and character, like some of the chopin pieces, are very empty and robotic. He has several degrees in music performance and Im just confused on how things are taught? I started piano lessons a year ago and my instructor wont let me play a note without rotating my wrists and having lots of wrist and hand flexibility. Is this not universal-ish?

Apparently not.

And don't forget about keeping your arms relaxed as well.

I am impressed, however, by the amount of music BachScholar has memorized !!

I know this is super old, but after watching some of his videos, Im confused on how he played with such stiff wrists? I notice his pieces that require touch and character, like some of the chopin pieces, are very empty and robotic. He has several degrees in music performance and Im just confused on how things are taught? I started piano lessons a year ago and my instructor wont let me play a note without rotating my wrists and having lots of wrist and hand flexibility. Is this not universal-ish?

Apparently not.

And don't forget about keeping your arms relaxed as well.

I am impressed, however, by the amount of music BachScholar has memorized !!

thanks! that is pretty impressive.. I feel like he has reached a ceiling in his expressiveness.. but of course this is a very limited amt of experience talking.

His video was removed. Can someone please explain to me his position? I have heard him play. His Chopin is dry and his Bach is decent. That's about all I can say. What's all this talk about him being a 'prophet'?

I know this is super old, but after watching some of his videos, Im confused on how he plays with such stiff wrists? I notice the pieces that require touch and character, like some of the chopin pieces, sound very empty and robotic. He has several degrees in music performance and Im just confused on how things are taught? I started piano lessons a year ago and my instructor wont let me play a note without rotating my wrists and having lots of wrist and hand flexibility. Is this not universal-ish?

I am a clarinetist who has decided to go back and learn piano for real. I did listen to the BachScholar for awhile. I was pretty fascinated ( I am beginner on piano). I even went as far as contacting him to start lessons but, something came up and I cancelled. Good thing, I suppose.

Just recently he has posted some beg for money ads stating in one that he has some people that are suing him although he never states why. In another ad he writes that there is a child support issue going on and they have used much of their money fighting it. And another ad I saw yesterday states that he must moved back to Florida, blah, blah, blah.

I find it amazing that someone would get into legal problems and then, have that audacity to go on youtube and beg for money to keep BachScholar going. I did write a sentence or two on his wive's FB asking why his business is being affected by money that should be coming from his personal income.

I am so glad that I read all the things on here including his playing issues. To the novice piano ear we do not know better. I do not feel sorry for him but, he is trying to capitalize on his client's feeling sorry.

If I'm recalling correctly, he is an organist, also. I think over the years since his doctorate, organ-isms must have entered into his piano playing too much. Otherwise, I feel he gets criticized a bit too severely. Many of his videos are at practice tempos so people studying the works can hear what's going on more clearly. He may well be a fine Skype teacher.

I disagree with his Bach tempo theories.

A certain amount of "puffery" (exaggerated self-promotion as in advertising) gets misinterpreted as arrogance.

I've never really found his claims about Bach's approach to tempos to be very convincing. For me a lot of it falls prey to what in Math is termed the "law of small numbers". For any given Bach piece, there's a fairly wide range of tempi that might be considered reasonable in performance. So if you take a few connected pieces (e.g. a prelude and fugue, or the different sections of the toccata and fugue), there will almost always be some tempo at which to perform each section that happen to make the section lengths come out to nice ratios.

Not because of any plan or deep meaning on Bach's part, but just by sheer coincidence and/or cooking the length of each piece appropriately to make the numbers come out right. You could do the same thing a large portion of the time even if you looked at a pair of completely unrelated short pieces composed centuries apart.

This thread snagged my interest a little. I watched part of his hand exercise video - Tausig exercise. I'll check out the whole vid later and try it out.

Off hand, he seems like a poor man's wanna-be Donald Trump. When Mohammad Ali bragged about himself, seems like he had a wink in his eye. He didn't believe all his noise. One gets the sense that this guy really means it.

I wonder if he has any videos of him playing one of his compositions. Being the genius he is, I think he'd have written music making points that Beethoven and Schoenberg missed. He would be showing us the musical error of their ways. Just sayin'.

He makes good recordings (good sound and video). He looks relaxed and solid while playing, even when it gets harder he just goes on metronomically as if nothing happens.

But that is also his weakness. There is stiffness/rigidity in his playing that I like less (e.g., in his la campanella below). This may be more about interpretation but IMHO playing a showpiece with a metronome-like stability is silly. Even his victory wave at the end looks studied Maybe he is just showing how to learn the piece, not sure.

His bragging about the Bach stuff is a bit silly but I guess it's a way of selling things. I don't bother with that, I'm not into Bach anyway.

He makes good recordings (good sound and video). He looks relaxed and solid while playing, even when it gets harder he just goes on metronomically as if nothing happens.

But that is also his weakness. There is stiffness/rigidity in his playing that I like less (e.g., in his la campanella below). This may be more about interpretation but IMHO playing a showpiece with a metronome-like stability is silly. Even his victory wave at the end looks studied Maybe he is just showing how to learn the piece, not sure.

His bragging about the Bach stuff is a bit silly but I guess it's a way of selling things. I don't bother with that, I'm not into Bach anyway.

Relaxed? Sorry, but he plays with a LOT of tension... it's painful to watch his hands while playing.